September 2025
Easier-to-read MailChimp version here: https://mailchi.mp/66c58ec7a13e/coachs-september-newsletter
Welcome back to school and back to speech and debate!
Thank you so much to everyone who joined us at the potluck this weekend. It was great to put names to faces and meet the families of our amazing students!
If you got a photo of students (especially that big group picture after the buddies reveal!) please send that my way!
If you missed the potluck, you can find the information slides here.
I like to start each email highlighting the recent successes of the Speech and Debate team!
August/September Student Success Spotlights
August: Westwood Tournament Online
The World Schools Debate Team of Lucy, Schaefer, Elena, Salome, Atticus advanced to finals and placed 1st! They are all halfway qualified for the Texas Forensic Association State Tournament.
September: Glenn Tournament
Extemporaneous (Extemp) speakers Omar and Rebecca advanced to the semifinals!
Zoe and Amanda advanced to finals! Amanda placed 5th and Zoe placed 1st!
We had three students advance to Congressional Debate finals! Rebecca, Izzy, and Klein
Our senior Public Forum debate team of Rosemary and Parker advanced to finals and placed 2nd!
Lana advanced to the finals of Informative Speaking and placed 2nd!
Reminders!!
Permission Slips- Handbook
Team Handbooks were supposed to be signed and returned by August 29th!
These are essential for competition. We need parental consent to sign students up for the website (Tabroom.com) we use to register students for tournaments, to message students on their personal emails and Slack channels to communicate about and at competitions (including the Trojan Classic), and to transport students via carpool or bus to competitions.
Dues
Dues are crucial to the function of our team. If you need to create a payment plan to split up the cost, please reach out to Coach Contreras so we can set that up!
Payment Methods:
Check addressed to Debate Boosters
PayPal sent to @AHSSpeechDebate
Zelle sent to treasurer@andersonspeechdebate.org
Get Involved!
Volunteer!
Judge
Judge Trainings! RSVP Here
Tuesday, September 9th at 6pm on Google Meet (Will be recorded- Link will be sent out to RSVPs and on Blend!)
Tuesday, September 16th at 6pm in Coach's Classroom, room 320
Carpool
Driving students to or from tournaments is one of the easiest and most impactful ways to get involved! We need an average of 4 drivers per tournament.
Verified volunteer registration
All volunteers (new and returning) must complete this volunteer registration form to be verified with the district!
Donations!
Trojan Classic
An email about bringing donations to Trojan Classic will come out soon from the boosters about what items we'll need for the tournament! Think snacks, sodas, waters.
Fundraising
Sending fundraising leads or making financial donations to the booster club will help us meet our fundraising goal!
Our fundraising chair or director, Todd or Betsy, would be happy to help you get started to ask corporations or businesses for donations! Their emails are below.
Todd: toddmfine.esq@gmail.com
Betsy: betsy.johnson@mac.com
Classroom Support!
We have a small budget for classroom supplies that I use to buy essentials for our team. The biggest item is snacks, followed closely by essentials for speech and debate tournaments. Coziness and comfort in my classroom are super important to me and there are some decor items and fidget toys for students on the list as well. You can support my classroom on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/160S6YE3YW8GK?ref_=wl_share
Merch Orders!
I'm super excited for our merch this year! The forms have been published on Blend and here.
Crewnecks ($30) and t-shirts ($15): https://forms.gle/pxSpAiGR4pdx1LRPA
Yard Signs! ($20): https://forms.gle/X23DixfTXtNLC7ES8
Please only submit one merch order form per family! Parents and family members are more than welcome to rock Anderson debate merch!!
Merch order forms will close on Friday, September 19th.
Important Links:
Google Calendar
Calendar Doc
Handbook
Website
Instagram: @andersonspeechdebate
Coach Contreras' email: el.contreras@austinisd.org
Thank you so much for reading! I'm excited for an amazing year of Anderson Speech and Debate!
I hope to see you soon at a judge training or the Trojan Classic!
peace, love, and debate,
Coach El Contreras
el.contreras@austinisd.org